Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Capital Sect Initiation (3)
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Qi Refinement disciples gathering for some kind of contest—what could it be?
What they learned at the Qi Refinement stage was meditation and martial arts, nothing more.
Anyone could see it had to be a martial arts competition.
So the next day, Seoran went straight to find the martial arts instructor.
“Instructor, I was wondering which fist technique is the strongest.”
She figured they wouldn’t be using weapons in a friendly tournament, so she asked about fist techniques.
“Disciple Ryu, it’s only been a month since you joined, and group training alone must keep you plenty busy, right? Ah, didn’t you say you trained in the secular world?”
Ryu Seoran was quite famous within the Black Bamboo Sect.
As the first Single Spirit Root Holder discovered in nearly three hundred years, hardly anyone hadn’t heard of her.
Naturally, her story of cultivating alone for five years starting at age ten was well-known too.
“You must have wanted to play at that young age, yet here you are, so diligent. That drive to improve is a good thing. So you’re looking for the strongest fist technique?”
“Yes. If I’m going to train in one, I want to learn the best.”
The martial arts instructor smiled faintly and replied.
“You always seem so mature, but you’ve got a childish side too. Disciple Ryu, as long as it’s not some half-baked technique, no martial art is inherently strong or weak. It’s just strong practitioners and weak ones.”
“So it doesn’t matter which martial art I learn?”
“Of course not entirely. They may lack superiority, but each one pursues something different. Strong and forceful, soft and yielding, fast, slow, aggressive, defensive. They take after the personality of their creator.”
With that, he handed her a book.
The cover read *Smoldering Flow Fist*.
What kind of fist technique name was that—wobbly and soft-sounding?
Seeing Seoran’s dubious expression, the martial arts instructor chuckled.
“Give it a read. I may not look it, but I’ve been teaching martial arts for over a century since reaching Foundation Establishment. I can spot aptitude at a glance.”
Spoken like a true cultivator—talking in centuries.
In the secular world, fifty years made you a master. A hundred?
Suddenly, her trust surged.
“Thank you, Instructor.”
Seoran bowed in gratitude and tucked the book into her robes.
*****
The Smoldering Flow Fist was a martial art that placed extreme emphasis on defense.
But that didn’t mean it was purely defensive.
Ordinary self-protection arts generally disliked conflict.
The best way to protect oneself wasn’t swinging fists to knock the opponent down.
From a self-protection standpoint, that was the worst option.
In self-protection arts, fighting was always the last resort.
The best policy was avoiding fights altogether.
Actively shunning dangerous places and situations, fleeing swiftly if attacked.
Only fight when escape was utterly impossible.
In contrast, the Smoldering Flow Fist wasn’t about self-protection at all.
It was a martial art for smashing enemies down.
So why emphasize defense over offense?
That was the unique character of the Smoldering Flow Fist.
Its author believed the best way to defeat an opponent was through defense.
The author didn’t deny that striking first held an advantage in battle.
He simply thought the commonly touted benefits of striking first were overhyped.
Striking first didn’t guarantee victory.
A surprise attack was where striking first shone brightest.
Nothing was more deadly against an unprepared foe.
Success meant killing them outright; failure still usually inflicted injury.
The author agreed up to that point.
But he argued that in a prepared confrontation between both sides, the utility of striking first dropped sharply.
According to him, the minor advantages of striking first in a head-on clash were as follows.
Strike first to seize the initiative and unleash a barrage of attacks.
This forced the opponent to choose: defend and cede the initiative entirely, or take the damage and attempt a counter.
Either way, it was a lose-lose dilemma.
If they defended, you kept attacking to pile on the damage—your gain.
If they took the hit to counter and failed, the fight was essentially over.
Even if they succeeded, no big deal.
Landing a solid blow from a disadvantaged position while countering desperately wouldn’t inflict meaningful damage.
Sure, the opponent might be such a master that a glancing counter dealt a mortal wound.
But that was an exception—your own poor judgment in underestimating a true expert.
That was the author’s take on the advantages of striking first.
“Huh?”
At this point, Seoran stopped reading.
She flipped ahead through the pages, checking if she’d misunderstood and gotten the author’s argument backward.
But Seoran’s sharp mind hadn’t erred.
The author claimed striking first was overhyped, then immediately listed all its advantages.
It blatantly defied standard writing structure, where evidence follows the claim.
Or did the author genuinely think the advantages he listed were trivial?
Was that why he’d written them out at length as “proof” that they were insignificant?
Was he insane?
No one reading this would think striking first was a bad idea.
Even Seoran could see it looked hugely advantageous.
Wary, she read on.
Fortunately, what followed were the advantages of focusing on defense.
The main argument was that while striking first theoretically seized the initiative, reality differed.
An ideal martial artist stayed calm, always assessing advantages and disadvantages between opponent and self.
But humans were inherently flawed creatures, and martial training didn’t change that.
And offense was harder than defense.
Attack meant extending limbs from the body’s core—the source of power—to strike the foe.
Thus, it inevitably consumed more stamina than defense, which kept limbs close and retracted.
The attacker had to choose: maintain the initiative at the cost of stamina, or conserve energy and yield it.
Contrary to theory, reality forced the attacker into a disadvantaged dilemma.
Unless defense failed and a vital hit landed, stamina drain outpaced damage-induced decline.
Thus, the defender’s capacity diminished slower than the attacker’s, and the gap widened over time.
Yield the initiative and halt the assault? The defender gained from the existing stamina disparity.
Press on despite fatigue? Same result.
A weary body dulled focus; stray thoughts crept in, making the attacker anxious.
Anxiety over one’s exhaustion spurred more aggressive attacks to end it quickly—and worse stamina drain.
In the end, the attacker’s mind crumbled before their body, leading to mistakes.
Strike then, and victory was easy.
The author advised defenders not to counter rashly and risk loss, but to preserve focus until the foe erred—then triumph was assured.
With that admonition, the preface to the Smoldering Flow Fist ended.
Seoran had been convinced by the author before she knew it.
Pondering it, the arguments held real merit.
Isn’t this the ultimate invincible fist art?
Its author—was he a martial god?
In Seoran’s heart, he was already the world’s greatest.
She couldn’t wait to start training in the Smoldering Flow Fist and grow strong herself.
Feverishly turning to the later pages, a small slip of paper fluttered out.
It bore the martial arts instructor’s evaluation.
‘Caution: The creator of the Smoldering Flow Fist died during a dojo challenge after writing this. Presumed to have self-destructed from psychological pressure when the opponent showed no openings. The fist art is highly refined, but do not blindly follow the author’s claims.’
Seoran felt a bit deflated.
*****
Seoran decided to train in the Smoldering Flow Fist anyway.
Her illusions were shattered, but the technique itself suited her well.
For the friendly tournament coming up soon, she adjusted her training schedule starting that very day.
Normally, she split her time evenly between mental cultivation and physical conditioning.
Foundation Establishment required balanced growth of soul and body.
Thus, Qi Refinement disciples varied their training ratios based on circumstances.
If one aspect hit a bottleneck or lagged, they focused more time there.
Shifting ratios for short-term goals, like Seoran, was common too.
Seoran, devoting most of her day to the Smoldering Flow Fist, quickly memorized the basic forms.
Now it was time to ingrain those memorized movements into her body.
The book said they had to become instinctive—postures held unconsciously without flaw—for real combat use.
Holed up in her hut, Seoran repeated the full sequence of movements without pause, from start to finish.
After half a month, with all postures perfected, she practiced them in reverse.
The next step was sparring to master reflexive use of appropriate movements and postures in situations.
So she invoked her Single Spirit Root privilege.
She visited the martial arts instructor to request a loaner, and it arrived the same day.
A wooden training dummy animated by spellwork.